


Light Me Home

by Deaster



Category: RWBY
Genre: Deviation from canon starting from Vol. 3, F/M, Fall of Beacon AU, What was that about religion Qrow?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-06-06 07:00:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15189341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deaster/pseuds/Deaster
Summary: The heavens may fall, the sun may go out, but we on our tiny rock, we, who they cast out, we. Will. Stand!Pyrrha Nikos is a Huntress who is slowly spinning her wheels, unhappy with the direction her life is going in. After the events of Mountain Glenn, and the death of her partner, Xanthe, Pyrrha desperately searches for something to anchor herself to. She finds it in the shopkeep of a small antiques shop in the city of Allemand, Vale. One Jaune Arc.Jaune Arc is the third born child of the once prestigious Arc family. He’s currently stuck managing the shop his parents gave to him upon reaching his majority: Triumphe; titled after one of his old ancestors who fought in the Great War almost a century prior. As time goes on, he can’t help but feel lost, especially as Vale starts to turn hostile to those born outside of the walls, and Triumphe starts being caught up in the crossfire. Luckily, Jaune finds support in one Pyrrha Nikos, formerly of Team ANVL.





	1. Candlelight

**Author's Note:**

> Um… Hi again. 
> 
> So, yeah… I’ve been gone for about… a few months at the point, and I’m super sorry. As soon as testing ended, I’ve been hit with a battery of medical issues and the like, so I’ve had almost no time for writing. So that explains why I haven’t updated, but I also deleted the original a couple weeks ago. So, my reasoning for that is as follows:
> 
> 1\. I wasn’t satisfied with the background  
> 2\. I really need to learn to organize better, because several files meant for other things got mixed in with the files for this story  
> 3\. So help me, I need to learn to write battles  
> 4\. Because of 2 and 3, several plot points started to not make any sense in the universe, and I was loathe to change them.
> 
> So… that’s about it for the most part… I know I mentioned that I would update once a week when summer came back around, but because I of the mentioned battery of medical issues, I can only really do updates once or twice a month. I’ll be trying for 2 chapters a month, since in the past few weeks I managed to write up a few chapters, so I have a stockpile.

Pyrrha drew her cloak closer around herself, and briefly glanced around the town square as she walked. Her labored breath made soft wisps of ‘smoke’ as it forced itself out of her body. A gust of cold air made her hunch over, feeling sorry for herself. If she hadn’t waited until the last minute to do her Arima shopping, she wouldn’t even be in this mess right now. 

 

_ ‘5 more minutes…’  _ she promised herself. 5 more minutes before she would call it quits for the night and head home. She checked her scroll for the time, and bit back a curse. It was nearing closing time for most stores, so she’d have to hurry. In her musings, she didn’t notice that she’d gravitated to a smaller corner of the square. Still, she could see lights down a pathway, so there might still be hope.

 

As she walked down the pathway, she tugged her jacket closer to her frame. She felt silly doing such an action, but the sun had already long since dipped below the horizon, and she couldn’t help feeling a little uncomfortable, even if no one with eyes would dare try to harm her, lest they get a javelin in the stomach for their troubles.

When she finally stepped out into the square, she let out a small gasp at how decorated it all was. There was a tree at the center, lit up with ropes and ropes of lights. She marveled at the sights and sounds of the area. A small gust of wind sent a whiff of peppermint her way. A smaller shop caught her attention, hearing  [ soft music ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O41D7aF_SIQ) floating from the door. 

 

Curiosity peaked, she walked inside the shop, and was surprised to see a nicely decorated interior, with aisles pointing out where various things were. She smiled as she saw some interesting things over at the checkout.  The only thing that confused her was the the sign near the front that said ‘Have a Lovely All Saints Day!’ Pyrrha wondered if she could just be reading the characters on the sign incorrectly, but the characters for ‘Arima’ had no cognate in the characters she saw written out on the sign. She resolved to ask about it when she checked out. 

She stood around awkwardly in the entrance, looking around for someone else in the shop. There’d been no sign saying that the owner was out on a break, but she could’ve missed it, since the light wasn’t quite strong enough to illuminate the windows fully. She resolved to wander around in the store, and when the owner came back, she’d explain her presence. 

 

A nervous hum worked its way out of her as she looked around the area. There was an aisle labelled ‘ceramics,’ maybe she’d start there to see if she could get anything good for Ruby and Yang. Wandering into the aisle, Pyrrha looked around at the shelves of statues. She picked up one of two women, and admired it. It was white as snow, and Pyrrha wondered if she could get the model customized. She set it back down, and wondered if she could find something else. 

 

“Hello Miss...?” A voice came from behind her, and Pyrrha whirled around, Miló in her hands. The blond squeaked, and backed away. “S-Sorry for startling you!” He held up his hands in a show of surrender, and Pyrrha blushed as she slowly reclipped Miló onto her belt. 

 

“No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be so on edge. Do you work here?” The blond nodded. 

 

“Yeah, I’m the owner of this fine establishment. The one and only Jaune Luna Arc!” He grinned and gave her a little bow. Pyrrha snickered. “Now, how may I help you this fine… night?” his voice ended on a high pitch, and his shoulders slumped. “I really need a clock in here.” He whispered under his breath, and Pyrrha figured she wasn’t meant to hear that, and ignored it.

 

“Well, I just need a couple fo gifts for my friends and teammates.” 

 

“Gifts? Oh right, Arima’s coming up isn’t it. That explains a lot.” He muttered the last bit, and Pyrrha had to fight her curiosity as to not be rude. “Is there anything you have in mind?”

 

“Well, I want a group gift, and couple of separate gifts, since another pair of my friends are getting married soon.”  She clarified the last bit. “For the group gift, I was considering little statues, something that would look nice.” Jaune thought for a second, and he smiled. 

 

“Well, for one thing, I think that we can get you a nice set of four statues that would look pretty nice.” He walked past her, and his eyes were fixated on the top shelf.  “Ah, here’s a nice set. The models date back to the foundation of Vale, I think at the Summit of Unification.” Pyrrha made a noncommittal sound, never having been interested in history. That was Ren’s forte, not hers. He picked up the group of statues, and showed them to her.  

 

Pyrrha admired them. “These look a lot like the Four Maidens, are you saying that the statues are going to look like these?”

 

“Essentially, unless you want them customized, which I would be happy to do. So would you like to use these models, or would you like to keep looking?” Pyrrha thought about for a moment, then smiled. “I’ll take these models.”

 

“Then let’s talk customization. Do you have a specific material you want them to be made out of?”

 

“I’d like them to be made out of silver, and could the Maiden of Fall have cat ears?” Jaune raised an eyebrow at her. “Er, one of the members of the group is a Faunus-” she clarified quickly. “Oh, and um, could you, um… base if off of them? Make it a little more personal?” Jaune paused.

 

“I think there’s a better set I have in mind for you.” He said after a minute of silence. “These models are specifically religious, and I don’t think I really want either of us to be performing defamation… Fairly certain that’s grounds for being thrown into the gaol.” He led her back to the beginning of the aisle. “Ah, these will do.”

 

He took them off of the second shelf, and dusted them off. He showed them to her, and Pyrrha was awed by the craftsmanship. “These models come from the old outposts on Palisade.” She took them in her hands. These statues looked so imposing and regal, she could already imagine what they would look like when they were done. “Do you have a photo of your friends I could use for reference? So I don’t get details wrong that is.” Pyrrha wordlessly handed him a photo from her wallet. 

 

Jaune pocketed it. “Anything else you wanted from our fine establishment today?” She mused. “I would really like another ceramic for the couple I told you about, but we can come back to that a little later. I want to get the other gifts first.” Jaune nodded. 

 

“That we can do. I’m guessing you also want to buy seperate gifts for the group, so let’s head to jewelry firs- Wait.” He turned to face her. “That was a mechashift weapon you pointed at me. So unless you’re just a weapons buff, which is completely understandable, I mean, you’re  _ here- _ ” 

 

‘ _ Wait, what does he mean by that? _ ’

 

“But I don’t think so. I didn’t even know you were in my shop, your feet were absurdly quiet, and this is a damn Iogolia wood floor, and those aren’t made to muffle sounds. Plus you said something about teammates, so I think I’m justified in showing you to this section instead.” He pointed to a sign to the left of them, about 5 aisles down, which read:  _ Gloria enim hominis.  _ He walked out of the ceramics, and waved her over. 

 

When she peeked in, what she saw awed her. “Yeah, most Hunters have that reaction. Come on, I’m sure we can find something nice down here.” She hesitated to walk down the aisle, which was filled with old relics, many looking as though they were from the Great War. “Hey, I found a nice set of jewels that group you work with might like.” The blond grabbed four belts, and gave them to Pyrrha. “Those were taken off of Amnis von Roache, one of the generals of the Palisade army, and her personal troope of handmaidens. They should serve your Huntress friends well in combat.” He opened the pockets on the side of one of the belts, woven through with black sparkling stones. “This here was made to keep dust, it’s useful when you want to keep some on you, whether it’s to apply some effect to your weapon, or if your teammate has a weapon that runs on dust, or whatever.” Jaune smiled. “So, what do you say? These four as a set will only cost you about 180 Lien.” Pyrrha mentally tried to appraise the value of the belts, but frowned.

 

“You're selling them for a bit cheap, aren't these relics?” 

 

“Yeah, but Hunters get discounts, and well, it's Arima, I'm not going to rip you off.” Jaune gave her a smile, and Pyrrha chuckled. 

 

“Alright, I’ll take them. Was that 180 with or without tax?” She asked slyly. The shopkeeper stared at her for a second before laughing.

 

“You really are a smart one. Yeah, it’s with tax included, that’s one of the nice things about Vale.” 

 

“I wouldn’t really know, I’m not from around here. So that’s my group gifts done-”

 

“The couple, right? The ones you said are getting married?”

 

“Yes, I wouldn’t really want to get them something related to work though.” Jaune put a hand to his chin as he listened to her. 

 

“Well, if you can tell me a little bit about them, I can figure out something.” 

 

“Well, the groom is the history teacher at Beacon, and he really likes myths and legends. He also has a like for music that came out of the great war. The bride is much more high energy, and she loves pancakes, sports items, and she also has a shared interest in history. She also runs a popular gym in Vale proper.”

 

“And you want to buy them a joint gift?” Pyrrha nodded. 

 

“Alright, and you wanted to look at the ceramics again right? We should do those first, since if you decide to just get them a ceramic, it’ll be easier for you, and the idea I have for them is all the way in the back.” He led her back to the ceramics aisle, and Pyrrha took a look at one of the shelves closest to the entrance. 

 

“This one looks nice.” Jaune came up to her side, and frowned. 

 

“You don’t want that one, I’m actually surprised I still have it actually.”

“What do you mean?”

 

“It’s a poor man’s Lainez.” Pyrrha didn’t understand why that made the statue inferior, but let Jaune talk on, seeing as it was probably his area of expertise. He showed her another shelf. “These aren’t ceramic, because these were made up in the Grimmlands, but I put them with the ceramics since they were based off of them. This might look good as a wedding gift.” He picked up a statue of crystal, and Pyrrha’s eyes widened when she took a slight glance at the price tag.

 

“Ah...” Jaune put it back down. 

 

“Yes, it’s a bit expensive.” She smiled. Jaune sighed. 

 

“You’re right, you were looking for Arima gifts, not ‘I should report this guy for price gouging’ gifts. Well, let’s get you something else. We can look at the book section if y-” He paused. “Wait, I know. We can get you a music related gift for the groom, would he be fine with a music box?” Pyrrha thought for a second. 

 

“I think he’d like one.” Jaune’s face split into a smile, and Pyrrha felt her cheeks heat up. 

 

“Great! Well, let’s go into the back, there’s some woods we’re going to have to check out. But do you know if there’s any particular wood he might like.”

 

“...Do you have any samples from Forever Falls?”

 

“The reddish ones? Have really stick sap?” Pyrrha nodded in affirmation. “We do, so, I guess we can skip picking the wood. Have any song choice you’d think he’d like?”

 

“Er… anything from… antiquity?” Jaune laughed, and Pyrrha blushed. 

 

“Well, we do have some pretty ancient works. If I go find the recordings, I can attempt to copy them, and that way we can get a nice music box. If you want, you can stay here and look around while I go get the samples.” Pyrrha nodded, wanting a little time to herself so she could calm down. Jaune flashed her a smile, and wandered off to the back.


	2. Embers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the shorter chapter, I have a bit of an explanation in the analysis.

Jaune walked into the dark back room, and ran his hand on the shelves. He breathed in the smell of old parchment and the slight copper of exposed wires. A smile graced his face as his hand hit a small notch in the wood. Letting a finger trail down until he hit air, Jaune moved his hand to touch some files, and rifled through them. A flag that was sticking up stuck against his finger, and Jaune pulled it up. 

 

“A Salieri huh?” He murmured, and looked it over, humming the melody to himself. He rummaged around on another shelf for the recorder, and lifted up, putting it on an empty space on a higher shelf. He connected his Scroll, and searched for the specific piece. Selecting it, he let the  [ music ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4gNu_i15a8) wash over him. It wasn’t quite from ‘antiquity’ as Pyrrha had put it, but the way it was composed put it from before the Great War at the very least. It would do quite nicely, but Jaune wondered if he could find anything better. 

 

He searched around for another file, hopefully this one could be a little more in line with a shorter tune, one that had more of the sounds indicative of that era. It could stand to be a little faster and not so slow. “Well, the composer is very good. It would be a waste to let a historian not hear a Salieri piece.” He looked through the file, and found a shorter piece. Repeating the process he had done with the former, he let it  [ play ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx9VH8P_i18) . 

 

“Yeah, this one will work.” He picked up the music sheets, and walked out. He saw Pyrrha wandering around the front, admiring some of the wooden toys on display. He slipped into the side door that led into his makeshift office. He turned on the copier and let it do its work. Once he collected the copies, he walked back out. “Alright, you wanted anything else?” He yelled out. 

 

“No thank you.” Pyrrha’s voice rang out from across the aisles. He made his way to where he thought her voice came from. He saw her at the checkout counter, and walked over to it. Flashing her a smile, he put the sheets into a folder. 

 

“These are the copies of the musical sheets that I used for the music box. I’m sure your teammate will enjoy them.” He took out a notepad from the compartment below. “Since you’re getting most of these custom made, I’ll accept payment for the belts in full, and the the rest as 50% collateral.” Pyrrha hummed, and opened her scroll. He did the calculations in his head, and wrote up a receipt. He waved her scroll away. 

 

“It’s okay, you can do the transfer at the end.” He thought for a second. ‘ _ The statues are all together instead of individual commissions, and they share a common theme, that can mean a shave off of about 10% since it’s such a big price tag already, and that shave off includes the Arima bonus... Then the statues are 491.97 Lien at the base value, but then the customization will be another 1000 Lien, so the music box is going to be… The wood is going to cost about a good 2045.41 Lien per square inch, and the dimensions are going to be 6x4x6, so 24 square inches… Before she checks out, I have to ask her if she wants anything else on the box… and then the metal to put everything together will cost anywhere from 50 Lien to 500 Lien depending on what she wants, then the music… It’s a Salieri, which puts it at 9995.81 Lien. So that’s setting her at 13533.19 Lien already. Then she’s paying off 50% today. So that’ll put her total at... _ ’ “6766.60 is what you need to transfer on top of the 180 Lien that you’re paying for the belts.” She stared at him for a second. 

 

“You didn’t even pull out your scroll for that… ”

 

“Well, I’ve been doing this for a long while. Oh, what metal did you want to be used, and did you want anything else on the box? Like metal decor or?” He tapped a few numbers out on his scroll, and passed it over to Pyrrha. 

 

“Ah, could you use Bruistide? And, I don’t want anything else...Um… how do I pay?” She gestured to his scroll.

 

“Oh, sorry, just type your total in here, and the last 5 numbers of your bank account. Then in the second box provide the first number.” He tapped the boxes, while Pyrrha did so, and when she was finished, she looked at him questioningly. 

 

“My provider has er, a novel way to provide payment. Sadly, I can't quite back out.” She chuckled. 

 

“That’s sad to hear.” She entered the information, and then closed out. Jaune handed her the written receipt. 

 

“Alright, you’re all done! I do hope that you come back at a later date.” Pyrrha’s cheeks went red, and Jaune raised an eyebrow. 

 

“Are you okay there?”

 

“Oh, I’m good, sorry.” A sudden light sliced through the darkness outside, and Jaune peered out. “Oh no! It’s raining… ” Pyrrha sighed, clearly frustrated. Jaune frowned. 

 

“I can walk you home if you’re not too far from here. It’s about closing time anyways.” 

 

“No, I couldn’t do that to you.” 

 

“Then at least let me walk you to a warm place someone can pick you up at. I have an umbrella.”  She stood and thought for a moment as Jaune fidgeted. 

 

“Alright, where are we going then?”

 

“There’s a cafe near here, I’ll take you there.” Pyrrha stood and thought. 

 

“Alright.” She gave him a small smile. Jaune picked up the umbrella, and walked with her out the door. He locked up, and hung the  _ Closed  _ sign. 

 

“Shall we go?” 

 

“Lets.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again everyone! I wanted to update last week, but my week was pretty hectic, so I couldn’t. However, I’ll be trying to keep my updates to Fridays. If I’m not updating on a Friday, (like this update) it’s because I was writing up notes and analysis.
> 
> Notes: 
> 
> Isn’t Salieri an...actual musician?: Yep, he is, if you’re interested in classical music, specifically the classical era of classical music. You may also know him from his rivalry with Mozart. I would’ve changed his name, except I like giving obscure musicians a little bit of spotlight in my works, hence keeping the name. 
> 
> The Great War: Did you mean, World War I? Yeah, I am… not a fan of how the Great War kicked off, or how it’s portrayed in RWBY. Like, wars have been started for less, I mean people have started wars over a fucking pig, but… that makes sense to happen on Earth, because we don’t have giant evil fucking monsters that feed on negative emotions. If a war was going to kick off on Remnant, there should be something major fueling it, and even border disputes aren’t good enough. Provable human right violations would have to be thrown about for a war that engulfed the entire fucking world to kick off. 
> 
> Hence why I based this off of… World War I and not World War II… So the method to my madness is this: 
> 
> Remnant’s strategy in the Great War is practically straight out of Rome, but yet it uses weaponry out of 2150. This can only lead to a shitshow, and what war in our own history had advanced weaponry with outdated tactics? World War I. Don’t get me wrong, WWII definitely had some fuck ups in the strategic department because of not understanding the era that the world was in, (Looking at you Benito) but it was much better than WWI in that department.
> 
> I have a whole history of that war, but that’s for later. Back to the rest of this analysis.
> 
>  
> 
> The price- I know this isn’t realistic, in our standards, and so aren’t realistic in Remnant standards, but hey, I can ask for some suspension of disbelief. Anyways, some people might ask why the music price is so high. Well, since it’s an antique piece, and it’s from before the Great War, I’m hypothesizing that a lot of things were destroyed in the Great War, more specifically things from Mantle/Atlas, which I’ve remade into Fantasy!Germany. Salieri was Italian, but he taught in Austria and was the imperial Kapellmeister.
> 
> Brustide is a made up metal, because even though I’m fine transferring food and edible resources, I’m not fine transferring metals. 
> 
> So that’s about it for the analysis for this chapter, I’ll see you guys in August!


	3. Enlighten Me

They stepped into the cafe, both slightly wet from the rain. Jaune wrung out the umbrella and bagged it. “What did you want to have?”

 

“Is there hot chocolate on the menu?”

 

“Yeah, I’ll go order.” Jaune walked off to the line, and an older lady waved her over to a smaller table near the window. Jaune soon came back, and handed Pyrrha the hot chocolate. He sipped at what seemed to be coffee.

 

Pyrrha sipped at the cup of hot chocolate in her hands. It was rare that she got to indulge herself in such a way. 

 

“Good huh? Mrs. Browning makes the best hot chocolate.” So that was the name of the older lady who had seated them. She smiled softly.

 

“Yes, it is very good.” Taking another step, she allowed herself to take all of Jaune in. His gangly noodly stature, and fine blond hairs making the beginning of a beard or mustache. He didn’t have a Hunter’s body, but he wasn’t out of shape, that could be explained away by a regular gym habit, or maybe the dusty boxes of antiques she had briefly seen were heavier than first imagined. 

 

Jaune muttered a soft phrase over his drink, and a quick flash of his hands indicated that he had also done some sort of gesture over it. A slender eyebrow raised. “I thought you said you didn’t celebrate Arima?” Granted, she wasn’t quite so familiar with the mostly Vale practiced religion, but she could’ve sworn that the gesture he had performed just now was from that religion. Jaune let out a sigh, the annoyance he felt coloring it. 

 

“It’s not an Arima gesture, it’s known from being apart of it, yeah, but it originally comes from Hilliage, the religion I practice.” 

 

“Oh.” Pyrrha leaned forwards, always eager to learn something new. “I have to confess that I’ve never heard of it before.”

 

“I’m not surprised, it’s a religion born in the sticks, made for the sticks, and it’ll die in the sticks.” Jaune sounded a bit bitter, but she supposed that it very well could be that she was overthinking everything. “I grew up in Normandy, so you can guess how and why I ended up not practicing Arima.”

 

“Normandy is in the sticks?” She guessed tentatively. He barked a laugh. 

 

“Got it in one. Well, it’s not so much the sticks now, but who knows, maybe another Grimm attack will teach them not to overreach. Saint Roux help me.” 

 

“Saint Roux?” He cringed at her mangling of the name, and she colored a dark red. “Sorry, I’m not as well versed in Valean as I would’ve hoped.” 

 

“Oh, it’s not Valean, that’s an Arêtan name. The ‘oux’ sound is only found up north, close to Arête.” Pyrrha cocked her head, pushing aside her chocolate for now, she pursed her lips and thought before forming the question.

 

“But I thought that this entire continent was made up of just Vale?” Jaune shook his head. 

 

“It’s a common thing that people think, but really, it’s not like that at all. Vale is the biggest country here-” Pyrrha noted that he didn’t say ‘kingdom’- “But it isn’t the only one. Up north you have Arête, Bennelux, and Altebenaĵo. Loess is to the east, and Patch as well. Technically Patch is independent, but it is a tributary of Vale, so it gets included in Vale proper. That situation’s a little more complicated for me to explain. Tregtisë is to the west , where Triesti used to be. Well, technically anyways. All that’s out west is the Grimmlands and jack nothing else of importance. If the people there say they’re from Tregtisë, then the Valean government can’t do nothin’ about it.” He muttered something under his breath, “Until they decide that the people who’ve been livin’ there for years need to be kicked out.” 

 

“And where you lived? Normandy?” 

 

“Vale proper, we were as far west as Vale dared to push, y’know after Mountain Glenn it was just a mess, so they decided to not drastically overreach and for once listen to the advice of the people living there.” That strong accent of his came out on certain syllables, stretching the vowels, and cutting off consonants with harsh clicks.

 

It was so similar to the accent Xanthe carried, and she remembered Lottie of Team LTUS carrying a similar accent. It was so different to the one Ruby and Yang shared, rounded consonants, unless they were ‘c’s and ‘k’s, those being closed off, and the vowels almost always dropped from a word. It had always been a shock to hear them shouting at each other, because it was only then that the vowels of any word would come out clearly, and the consonants took a softer turn. 

 

“Ah, I see.” She sipped at the chocolate, and missed his question. “Huh?”

 

“Where’d you come from ‘en? You’re accent’s too nice for Vale, not even the city gets that kind of nice lift on theirs.” 

 

“I’m from Eparchy originally, so that’s why...” Pyrrha blushed lightly. She’d never heard her accent being described as nice before. 

 

“Eparchy? That place in upper Mistral? No wonder you looked so confused in the store!” Pyrrha felt her initial romantic reaction shatter. “‘Er, I didn’t mean it like that, cheer up.” He pushed a small chocolate chip cookie her way. When she raised an eyebrow at him, because there was no way he had ordered that- he winked at her. 

 

“Shh, I swiped it from the ‘till, we can get free cookies, but we’re only supposed to get it at the end.” He snickered, and Pyrrha was charmed. She took a bite, and smiled.    
  


“Thank you.”

 

“Aw, don’t mention it!” She chuckled, and smiled at Jaune, taking him all in. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another half short chapter, and I'm sorry about that, but I wanted to update from today because I'll be taking some people out to town tomorrow and won't have the time to get on the computer, and to let you guys know that August will be a double update month, (possibly triple because I might just pull it off), but going forwards, I will be back to one update per month. Thank you all for understanding, and now back to the analysis!
> 
> Pyrrha mentions it being rare for her to indulge in chocolate, and that’s because Anima [these continent names, Jesus] is literally too far east and too far north to produce it in any suitable concentration. The reason why she can’t have any in Vale is because it’s just out of the chocolate belt, and Vacuo’s civil war is currently putting a strain on production. [Economics, affecting story progression since forever!] 
> 
> The gesture Jaune performed is actually the ‘V for Victory’ sign that was popularized after World War II. I repurposed it here as a religious image because I like foreshadowing. :> I like the symbolism of it. But the real reason for it being the V for victory sign, and not like, I dunno, the cross, is because 1. I am not going to copy paste religions,( that’s for my country inspirations damnit!) and 2. If Remnant is in fact, an entirely separate world from Earth proper, why the flying fuck would they share the same religious iconography we do? I’m already stretching it when I left a good chunk of our natural resources on Remnant instead of removing them (see chocolate) but I’m not willing to do that to culture.
> 
> The phrase that goes along with it is: Dieu, bénis-moi avec de bonnes nouvelles. In English, it’s “God bless me with good tidings,” but in Valean, a more appropriate translation would be: “By the Father, blessed be the self.” [Yeah, the translation comes out archaic as fuck, because as far as I am concerned, these languages are archaic as fuck.]
> 
> Hilliage is a bastardized version of the Dutch word for Saint [Wouldn’t that just make it Afrikaans then?] where the ‘e’ was dropped, and an extra ‘l’ was added as well as an ‘a’ due to differences in accents and accent drift. Refer to the whole culture thing I was talking about previously for another reason as to why. 
> 
> Jaune mentions that Pyrrha’s accent is “too nice,” referring to the fact that Pyrrha learned a standardized version of Valean. Basically, it’s the effect you get when a native speaker hears someone who learned the language in a standardized setting speak. [An even better example are the US states, because I know people who (without exaggeration mind you,) can tell that a person is not native to the specific region of the US/an expat/immigrant, because they speak “Generalized American English”] Jaune also refers to Eparchy as “Upper Mistral” and not “Western Mistral” because the capital city is located in the North, and Shimaguni never truly conquered the Eastern North. 
> 
> The accent I have “oh so graciously” afflicted Ruby and Yang with is a heavily modified version of a mix of German, Ukrainian and Irish, essentially, vowels go out the window and you’re left with harsh heavy consonants. 
> 
> Why Normandy as the name? I like my D-Day references, and it’s also a throwaway reference to Iandude0’s Lords Among the Ashes because that’s a quest I honestly love (the companion one not so much, and I still have my reservations about Cinder in the first quest, but whatever) so it gets named that.
> 
> The Mountain Glenn Incident is referring to the breech, because hey, we gotta stick with canon somehow.


	4. Spotlight.

Jaune guided Pyrrha outside, and sat down on a ledge near the river. “This is nice.” He smiled, and swung his legs over the side. He wasn’t lying either, this date had been genuinely great, and it would suck to have to go back to his tiny apartment after this. He hid his frown as he looked back at Pyrrha. 

 

“Thanks for this Jaune.” He paused, and stared at her. 

 

“What?” He questioned quietly.

 

“Thanks for tonight. I’m certain that you recognized me the first time around-” In fact he had not, being too tired to give a shit about  _ who  _ came in the shop as long as it was  _ someone-  _ “But, tonight was lovely.”

 

“Well, I’m glad I made it so lovely for you.” He took her hand, and marveled at how soft it was especially for a  Huntress. A small gasp wormed its way out of her, and he looked up at her wide, shocked eyes. “Pyrrha? Are you okay?” She quickly glanced down.

 

“I’m fine.” She said reflexively. 

 

“...You sure don’t look like it.” He accused, and she turned red with shame. 

 

“I’m sorry, it’s just… I… I don’t know how to explain this.” 

 

“I’m a good listener.” Jaune said softly, reeling back his tone. She chuckled, and leaned forwards. 

 

“Well, my team, Team ANVL...” she trailed off before picking back up. “Our leader was named Xanthe Acer.” Jaune felt his world go into stereo. He stared at her in shock, too horrified to interrupt. “She had tattoos almost exactly like yours. I was kind of taken aback you know.” The only thing that ran through his mind was the repetition of Xanthe, and the memories of a girl with bright blonde hair flashed through his vision. He stood up sharply, startling Pyrrha. “Jaune! Are you oka-”

 

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay. Don’t worry, I... I just need a second to catch my breath. I get light headed easily.” He lied effortlessly.  Pyrrha looked at him with genuine concern, and he felt bad about having to lie, but he wasn’t going to shatter her memories of Xanthe if they were that well loved. 

 

“I can take you hom-”

 

“No, no, it’s fine.” He waved her off. “Plus with the holiday almost over and all, it wouldn’t do for you to be out so late at night. Beacon teachers get up early yeah?” He smiled, though it hurt. 

 

“Yes, but I can’t just leave you on the streets. What if someone tries to mug you?” Jaune flexed his muscles playfully. 

 

“Well, I have my subpar muscle strength, but seriously, I do have some experience with scuffles. I’ll be fine.” She didn’t look happy, but knew that she couldn’t force him to accept her help, and refused to look at him. He grabbed a napkin from his jacket and scribbled his number on it. “Hey.” She looked back at him. He offered her the napkin and grinned. “For next time?” She chuckled. 

 

“For next time.” She smiled, accepted it, and gave him a quick hug before leaving. Jaune watched her leave, and sighed deeply. He fingered his jacket, slightly worn, and tugged it closer around himself. Pulling out his beat up scroll, he used the light to see across the streets of Vale. He watched the signs, checking the subtle markings on the wall. 

 

At Petunia St. He jumped the road over to the opposite side, on Rose Ave. Sighing, he pulled up his hood, and tightened the hole as to make himself less visible. Watching as the lights finally flickered out on this side of the street, Jaune picked up the pace, watching the numbers flash by in his vision. ‘546, 544, 542-’ He skid to a stop in front of his apartment complex, and wasted no time in running inside.

 

“Hey there Jaune.” A kindly voice came from the counter. Jaune tiredly gave him a quick wave. “You look pretty roughed up kid, what happened? Did some loser try and beat you up again?”

 

“Nah Nix, I was out on a date. Lost track ‘a time.” Nix nodded, and walked from around the reception to help Jaune stand more steadily. 

 

“A date? Didn’t know girls liked ugly and brooding.” Jaune punched the other man good naturedly in the shoulder. 

 

“You can shut your mouth, Mr. I’m too good for Mari Bellings.” Jaune snarked, and waved Nix away from the elevator. “I can take the stairs dammit, I’m exhausted not crippled.” 

 

“There’s a good case to be made for the latter in your case. Fuckin’ toughs.” Nix spat, and helped Jaune up the stairs. “You should really be more careful.”

 

“Heard from the mouths of babes already Nix, you’re kinda preachin’ to the trash bin with that quip.”

 

“The girl give you a mouthful?”

 

“She’s a full fledged Huntress if you’d believe it.” Jaune instantly knew that was the wrong thing to say as Nix nearly lost his grip on Jaune, and the blond had to grab onto the railing so that he wouldn’t fall, swearing in the process. “Nix you absolu-”

 

“She’s an actual Huntress?”

 

“Yes you actual sack of acid riddled rocks! She’s a Huntress! Now help me up before I fall!” The bellman straightened Jayne up and helped him walk up the many flights of stairs. The light was on in the corridor and Nix gave a shout. 

 

“Oi, Neptune, come help Jaune up! The poor lad’d been through the ringer t’night!” Jaune grumbled tiredly about how he ‘hadn’t been mugged’ but collapsed into Neptune’s tanned arms. 

 

“Sorry Jaune, but I don’t quite put on my lace and garters every night.” Jaune cursed him in old Arêten and glared. Neptune returned his barrage of curses with lilting Eparchean which took Jaune a moment to translate. 

 

“You two faced rising moon-“ Nix interrupted with a cough, and Jaune grumbled under his breath before pushing Neptune away. “I’m going to bed you Crousé.” Nix laughed the insult off. 

 

“Better wash your mouth before Scarlet hears you!” He called after Jaune, bringing Neptune downstairs to crow about Jaune’s discovery of females. The blond made his way into the apartment, and took off his shoes and crossed his chest diagonally before entering. He was greeted by a fierce hug from Scarlet. 

 

“ Where upon the dales ‘ave Jaune?” he smiled. 

 

“Whistlin’ to the trees I’d say, but then a nice girl came and snatched me up when ‘a weren’t a mind to look.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure what I was thinking when I said there wouldn’t be an analysis for this chapter. Past me was a grade A idiot.
> 
> Anyways:
> 
> The river is the river Lenne, based slightly off of the river Thames in its structure and geography. 
> 
> “Tiny apartment” - Remember tenant housing? Yeah, that’s what Jaune’s referring to.
> 
> “She had tattoos almost exactly like yours” - Pyrrha’s misremembering things for the sake of plot, she has tattoos exactly like Jaune’s but Xanthe also wore gloves all the time. She doesn’t cotton on to them being siblings because 1. Xanthe said that she didn’t have any other family  
> 2\. Jaune has never said anything about having a twin sister. 3. For all she knows, it’s a cultural/religious thing.
> 
> “He watched the signs, checking the subtle markings on the wall. 
> 
> At Petunia St. He jumped the road over to the opposite side, on Rose Ave.” - You know how North Ireland was extremely divided during the Troubles? Allemand is essentially a microcosm of Northern Ireland during that time. It’s also (partly) why Jaune greets his sister in Gaelic, and not French.


	5. Midnight Sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Sorry for not updating at the end of September, I was really busy... As compensation, I have 2 updates for today, and a third one at the very end of October. I also want to announce that I will be on hiatus for the entirety of November due to Nanowrimo. Enjoy!
> 
> (Also I'm swapping my A/N's to just be in the chapter instead because these things are gonna get long really quickly)

Pyrrha felt confused as Juane left her alone. Her heart sang of love and want as He walked away, but she couldn’t help a bitter wellspring of anger and annoyance as the small of his back was offered to her. Jaune was a civilian, he was no Huntsman, no street smart gang man like the dead Torchwick. He didn’t know how to protect himself, and that was the conflict that raged within her. 

 

She sighed into the open night air, and decided to get going. Hopefully, she’d make it back to Ruby’s apartment in time. Getting up now, Pyrrha walked alongside the lake, tracing her way back to the café. But the plaza seemed dead and empty now, the late hour surely not helping her perception. She clutched her dagger to herself. Just because she wasn’t allowed her actual weapons alongside her did not mean she wouldn’t leave the comfort of Vale without a way to protect herself. 

 

The air itself felt dead and stale, like the plaza was telling her to flee, to seek shelter before she was caught up in something long spun out out of her control. Pyrrha simply drew her jacket closer. As she walked, her ears picked up on breathing. It wasn’t the quiet rhythm of the Grimm, this was the heavy, frantic breathing of someone running. 

 

Pyrrha whirled around, and was hit by a body. That same body quickly got to their feet, but Pyrrha held onto their cloak fast, and jerked them back. 

 

“Ah-!” They cried, and the person fell. Pyrrha checked her body, making sure her purse and dagger were on her body. Satisfied, she made to let them go when she heard the sobbing. She let go on instinct and the person curled up into a ball. The person whimpered, and they cried. Pyrrha identified the language as  _ Valean,  _ but it was in such a strange dialect that Pyrrha had to rely on the broken parts she could understand to figure it all out. “Don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me...” 

 

Pyrrha recoiled. She was a Huntress, she wasn’t going to hurt this person, whoever it was! She heard footsteps coming from the direction the stranger had come from, and voices accompanying them. 

 

“This way! I can see her trail! We won’t let that stuck up princess get away!” Pyrrha now had a gender to identify the stranger with, but danger came alongside it. Making a quick decision, Pyrrha helped the woman up, and whispered lowly. 

 

“I’m not going to hurt you. I’m a teacher up at Beacon, where do you live? I’ll get you home.” The woman’s face was a picture of shock, but she quickly rattled off the address.  _ 560, the intersection of Rose and Lily.  _ Pyrrha frowned. She knew she was on Rose right now, but the numbers were going down, not up. If she wanted to get to the woman’s address, she’s have to run into the pursuers, and that wasn’t something she wanted to do. “Do you have any other address?” The woman seemed to have realized their dilemma as well. 

 

“542, Rose Avenue.” That she could work with. Pyrrha helped the woman along, keeping out of the streetlights, and shielding her with her body when one of the pursuers made her way down the street. 

 

“Ma’am!” Pyrrha froze. 

 

“Yes?” She asked softly. 

 

“Have you seen a woman running this way? She was dressed in a black cloak.” 

 

“No, I’ve seen no such person. I’m only on my way to visit someone.” The black haired woman stalked towards her. 

 

“Visit someone? On this side of Allemand?” She asked. “Are you a sympathizer?” She hissed.    
  
“A sympathizer? If you are insinuating that I support the White Fang-” Pyrrha sounded offended. 

 

“Non!” The woman shouted, looking angrier than before. “Never mind. You obviously don’t know what I’m talking about, just get going.” She stalked off, and Pyrrha let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. She placed a reassuring hand on the woman’s back, and led her to the warmly lit building. 

 

“...Thank you.” The woman whispered, and held Pyrrha’s hand before scurrying into the building. Pyrrha smiled after her, and looked around for the black haired woman before making her way back to the river. She whipped out her Scroll, and dialed Ruby. 

 

“Pyrrha…?” She asked on the other end of the line, and Pyrrha chuckled. 

 

“Yes Ruby, it’s me. I’m… somewhere in Allemand, I… I’m near the river that runs north-south, somewhere near Rose Avenue and Lilly Street.” 

 

“Oh! You’re… you’re far from Vale huh? Well, I can get you, would you rather get home faster or do you want to get home in comfort?” Pyrrha chuckled. 

 

“I would rather faster, thank you.” Ruby hung up, and Pyrrha waited on the railing. A blur warped her vision, and Pyrrha glanced up after it. The sensation repeated, and Ruby Rose stood in front of her. 

 

“Hey Pyrrha!” She smiled brightly. Pyrrha smiled back, and gave her a wave. 

 

“Hello Ruby, thanks for coming on such short notice.” She kept her bags close to her chest as Ruby grabbed her arm. 

 

“Welcome to the VRS Ruby Rose, what will be your destination tonight ma’am?” Ruby asked jokingly. 

 

“I would like to go to my friend’s house in Vale, I’m sure you know where it is, in the Willows on Gale street, number 20” Ruby made a dismissive noise, and activated her Semblance. Pyrrha sucked in a sharp breath, her vision blurring as Ruby increased her velocity. When they came to a stop, Pyrrha let go of the breath, and coughed harshly. “Don’t do that again Ruby, I’ll break your piping if you do.” She threatened.

 

“My piping Pyrrha?” The younger girl asked, opening the door to her house. 

 

“Yes your piping, let’s see how you like not being able to take care of your bodily processes.” Ruby laughed, and went inside. Pyrrha grumbled, but made her way inside as well, dumping her bag on the anise table. 

 

A/N: 

Yeah, Torchwick’s been dead for awhile in universe now, I might expand on that later, but for now, all you really need to know is that he's  _ super _ dead. 

Pyrrha’s annoyance with Jaune - Now I always interpreted Huntsmen as essentially roided up riot police, just with monsters instead of rioters, so Pyrrha's reaction of 'this man does not know how to protect himself’ is justified to hell and back. Jaune’s no slouch in the “can actually take care of myself in case of Grimm attack” area, but he's a  _ civilian.  _ Yes, Jaune can fight on par with like a Freshman level Hunter, buy Pyrrha. Does. Not. Know. That. Ergo, Pyrrha is  _ right  _ to worry about him, because to her Vale is a ticking time bomb ready to explode if someone got a little too sad. 

No weaponry on her - Vale was based off of modern day Canada with French/Bennelux influences on the outskirts of the country. All countries with strict as hell gun laws, so obviously the Remnant expy gets strict mechashift weapon laws. When off duty, Huntsmen are not allowed to carry their weapons considering that the average citizen could not defend themselves in case a Huntsman went rogue and tried to start killing people. Sure a normal citizen is weaker than a Hunter, but at least they have a bit of a fighting chance.

'stuck up princess’ - Oh man I cannot wait until I get to explain this in detail, but until then it has to wait.

Street names - If after the war we got color names, or at least names with color related significance (Looking at you Ren, Nora, Pyrrha), then it makes sense for the streets to also be named accordingly. Historically, many streets are named after famous people/places that were historically significant. 

“Sympathizer” - Technically, it would be ‘Apologist’, but quite frankly, with how Remnant is, I’d expect ‘Sympathizer’ (a word that may have military connotations) rather than apologist (a word that holds no military connotations, well, unless you’re saying: “You’re an apologist for the military...”) 

Allemand and Vale’s locations in time and space, and Ruby’s Semblance - Allemand and Vale exist roughly 32 km from each other (about 20 miles, and a distance Pyrrha can actually walk, and one that does have some distance implications), and were built that far apart from each other to limit Grimm attacks. (Would  _ you  _ like to have major metropolises next to each other, especially when large cities tend to have higher crime rates by default, which if not handled correctly could drive up the number of Grimm attacks in an area causing more devastation? No? Well now you see why they were built so far apart.) As for Ruby’s Semblance, the girl turns into roses and can essentially travel across a large distance almost instantaneously. (Actually, since I haven’t watched V1 in some time, I’m either buffing Ruby or nerfing her...) Also, fun fact, in universe (story wise anyways) Pyrrha waited for a few moments, and had her conversation with Ruby, and was then taken to Ruby’s apartment which took the same amount of time, call it… 10 seconds. That means Ruby traveled at 7200 miles per hour, or roughly 0.038% the speed of light. 

VRS - Vale(an) Royal Ship. 


	6. Drown in the Moonlight.

Jaune regretted telling Scarlet he had a girlfriend, because the blond lit into him with the power of Saint Élisée. Jaune had finally gotten her to calm down at about 15 minutes into the long rant.

 

“I cannot believe that you of all people would let a Huntress sweep you off your feet!” Jaune arched an eyebrow.

 

“And what is that supposed to mean?” He asked frostily. Scarlet realized her mistake as her eyes widened a fraction.

 

“Ná! Jaune, you know exactly what I meant. I only want you to be carefu-”

 

“I’m not a child anymore Scarlet. I fully understand the path I am taking.” He got up from his chair. “And I will ask you to leave Écarlate.” She rose as he did, and made to step closer. Jaune drew himself up to his full height, giving him an easy 2 inches over her. “I will not ask again.” She shot him a nasty glare.

 

“You have no idea what you are getting into Jaune. I am only asking that you consider this before you dive headfirst into the mhóna!” He turned his back on her, drawing an offended noise from her.

 

“I believe that I in fact, do know what I am getting into. I would advise you to open your mind Scarlet.” She put her hand on his shoulder, and Jaune nearly shoved her from the breech of his personal space.

 

“You are a child still Jaune. I have good reason to distrust the Huntsmen, and I will not trust them because one acted nicely. You shouldn’t either. You know what happened to Favre! You know what they’ve done!” Jaune stared Scarlet down.

 

“You sound like Beryl.” He said shortly, and Scarlet stopped in her tracks. Her mouth opened and closed, and the eldest Arc stormed out of the room, with only a short-

 

“You’ll regret your decision-” following her departure. Jaune slammed the door closed, with a choked cry tearing itself out of his chest. He sank to his knees, whispering fevered prayers, begging forgiveness and letting his tears drip down his face. He had never argued with his sisters before, with one exception, and it made his heart ache with sadness. There was a short knock at his door, giving Jaune minimal time to move out of the way of the opening door without getting hit. Jaune made to scramble to his feet, but lost purchase and fell back down.

 

“I heard her.” Jaune turned his head so that he wouldn’t look at Neptune. The blue haired Huntsman simply stood in the doorway. “She had no right.” At any other time, Jaune would’ve sat Neptune down, and explained the concept of ‘filial piety’ and lament on how he should know this since Eparchy is literally next door to Shimaguni. Now though, he turned to look at Neptune, eyes alit with misplaced anger.

 

“She has every right. Now leave.” There was a shuffling sound as Neptune stepped inside, squeezing past the door.

 

“I don’t think I will.” He sat down, ocean blue staring into darkened cornflower. “Jaune, your love life is none of her business beyond: ‘who is the person’, and: ‘when is a date that they’re free so I can give them the ‘if you ever hurt them speech.’ ” Neptune got back up. “It’s late, so we’ll continue this later, so help me.” He paused. “Also, congrats on bagging Nikos as a girlfriend, many a man would kill for that kind of opportunity, so I’d suggest that you don’t squander it. Oh, and a warning. Pyrrha is a close friend of mine. If you hurt her, even your family will be able to save you.”

 

“I find that notion quite improbable.”

 

“Is that the word then?” Neptune arched a lofty eyebrow, turned on his heel and left down the hallway. Jaune sulkily stared after him, and tried not to let Neptune’s words make him feel guilty. Getting up, he sighed, and fixed some of the furniture that had gotten a little roughed up. A sparkle caught his eye, and he dropped the Vacouan Hyssop into the trash with a disappointed sigh.

 

“Damn, and I’d been saving that too.” He kept cleaning, occasionally taking a break. On one of these breaks, he strode over to the window, and sat on the ledge. He stared moodily out the window, and reclined on the frame. “It’s so dark out… At least the moon looks nice tonight.” A quick glance at the sky told him he should get the hell back inside, as the cloud cover slowly accumulated in the previously clear night sky.

 

A loud wail sounded from downstairs, and Jaune swung his legs back around, and slammed the window shut. Nyx would give him hell to pay for that later, but he could live with that. Running down the flight of stairs proved to be an incredibly shitty idea however, as his knee cried out for relief as he hit the last step. “What happened?! Did some of those Ariman Crousé get in here?”

 

Another tennant shushed him, and Jaune turned his gaze onto her. “What happened?” He repeated.

 

“I dunno. Heard a noise, and came down. Just like you.” Jaune worried at his lip, and took a few steps closer. He saw a black cloak, and Nyx’s familiar frame crouched over the person. The elder man was whispering something unintelligible, and Jaune couldn’t decipher it. Nyx stood up, and took a step back when he nearly hit Jaune.

 

“Jaune, I know this is going to be an unreasonable request-”

 

“I’ll do it.”

 

“You didn’t even know what I was going to ask you, for all you kne-”

 

“Nyx, shut up.” The other man shot Jaune a glare, but only made a grunting noise in response.

 

“I need you to house her for the night. Seems she got roughed up by those Inquisition pricks.”

 

“See, that’s a fine request.” Jaune knelt, and reached for the hood of the cloak. The person swatted his hand away, and the blond recoiled. “Sorry, sorry. I’ve got it, no touching the hood.” He placed his hands on their midsection, and from the thinness, he guessed that the stranger was a woman. “C’mon, I’m gonna help you up.”

 

“Are you sure you can even do that Jaune?” Jaune glared at Neptune.

 

“Now isn’t the time for your dick waving Neptune. She needs help.” Neptune held his gaze, but stepped aside. Jaune helped the woman upstairs, taking his time, as she wouldn’t stop clinging to him. By the time they reached the top landing, Jaune felt like an hour had passed. He shuffled her to his room, and helped her to lay down on the guest bed. The blond collapsed on his own bedding, exhausted from the nightly activities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, when I first started writing up the language tree for Remnant, I accidentally placed the Celtic branch too close to the Romance branch (Celtic languages are more self-contained than you’d think), and well, here we are. A… Gaelic-French hybrid because I can’t keep my language trees straight.  
> “I cannot believe that you of all people would let a Huntress sweep you off your feet!” I referenced that Allemand is an expy of North Ireland during the Troubles, and this is another allusion to that. Allemand is so divided it affects the local Hunters, who refuse to help the people they do not share a religion with. And because Hillage as a religion is a minority population… Well, corrupt police ensue.  
> [You shouldn’t either. You know what happened to Favre! You know what they’ve done!” Jaune stared Scarlet down. “You sound like Beryl.”] - The Arcs have… family problems… to say the least.  
> Filial piety is very very important in very very secluded places. This includes communities that are extremely persecuted, because by listening to your elders, you survive for longer. (At least that’s what I learned in anthro.)  
> Vacouan Hyssop - Made up drink that’s an analog to Tennessee Whiskey. (It’s good, but made exclusively in one place, and hence, stupid expensive. Jaune’s kinda tossing money down the drain here)  
> Neptune is a bro in each and every universe - Neptune never felt like he got enough development in RWBY proper. Of course, V6 could change that… But I’m not holding my breath on that. Either way, Neptune was a character who felt like he’d have a party boy exterior, and a caring interior. So we get someone who acts like a dense jackass, but he’s actually really understanding. (Note: Just watch V6 E1, and… I was pleasantly surprised! Well kinda, Neptune shows up, and is a total bro, but… you know… He kinda got shafted out of the rest of the volume...)


	7. Sunshine.

Pyrrha woke up when Ruby splashed her with a bucket of water. Activating her Semblance, Pyrrha threw the bucket out of the younger Hunter’s hands. 

 

“Ruby… ” Pyrrha sighed, trying to wring her hair out. 

 

“Yes Pyrrha~” The reaper smiled, trying to hide her laughter. 

 

“I’m going to ruin your piping before I leave, so help me. Now, I smell bacon, so that better be what’s cooking right now.”

 

“I’m  _ so _ scared Pyrrha, whatever will I do without my piping?” Ruby called out as she walked to the kitchen. Pyrrha muttered a few expletives under her breath, getting out of the bed, and changing into some more comfortable clothes from Ruby’s drawer, ‘tching’ at the fact that they were slightly too small for her. She stomped out into the main room, and squeaked when she saw Yang sitting on the couch nearest the kitchen.

 

“Yang?!” Pyrrha turned a dark red, and dove behind the couch near the hall she’d just walked out of. 

 

“Wait,  _ Pyrrha?  _ Look, I’m all fo-”

 

“Yang!” Pyrrha cried, and looked at her pleasingly. “Ruby just played a prank on me, we aren’t together!” Yang snickered.

 

“I figured P-money, look, we’ve been friends going on a decade now, I’d hope by now that Ruby’s a little too into snowflakes to prefer pumpkins.” Pyrrha didn’t know how, but her skin was easily becoming redder as Yang went on. She buried her head into her hands, and scampered into the nearest bathroom. Leaning against the door, she let out a whine, and grabbed some clothes from her overnight bag. 

 

Changing into them, she stepped out into the main room, and kept her face turned away from Yang as she slumped into the couch. “So, why  _ were  _ you staying here? I mean, I know you weren’t on a mission, were you?”

 

“No, I was doing some Arima Day shopping before we had to go back to Beacon.” Yang made a sound of acknowledgement, and leaned forwards. “As for why I was staying here, well, Ruby lives closer to Beacon than Ren or Nora, and I had already gotten gifts for everyone but them, so I figured that even if I let their gift idea slip, it wouldn't be too devastating.” 

 

“Then can I ask what you got them?” Pyrrha weighed in her head, and shrugged. 

“Of course, it’s some music, a book, and a figurine.” Yang looked confused. 

 

“A figurine?”

 

“For their upcoming wedding.” Pyrrha smiled. 

 

“Oh yeah! Are they having it on Beacon’s grounds or?”

 

“Yes, well, technically. We’re holding it in Forever Fall.” Yang smiled brightly. 

 

“That’s great. We need more happiness like theirs in the world.” Pyrrha nodded. “Sucks that you’ve gotta get back up there in a week or so. We need more Huntsmen in the streets.” Pyrrha thought of the woman she helped last night. 

 

“Yeah. I never realized that Vale was-...” Yang raised an eyebrow. “I never realized that Vale had such a problem with crime I guess.”

 

“Um, first year, Roman Torchwick?”

 

“Well, yes, but… That seemed like such an anomaly, because it was the Grimm that we always focused on. It was the Grimm that we were sent out to fight, not other human beings.” Pyrrha fidgeted, and glanced up see Yang looking pensive. 

 

“Yeah, I understand. I was really hesitant too, when I first started with the Guard. It took the death of my partner for me to wisen up, to learn that… I can’t work without taking a life. It still haunts me you know.” Pyrrha’s eyes flicked over to Yang’s prosthetic arm, which the blonde was flexing absentmindedly. Yang smiled bitterly, and touched Pyrrha’s arm. 

 

“Yang, I-”

 

“I’m sorry for bringing it up Pyr. I know you’re-” Pyrrha stopped her before she could go any further. 

 

“It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” Pyrrha stood up. “I’m going to make sure Ruby isn’t in the process of burning the kitchen down.” Yang let out a strained laugh as Pyrrha left the room. “Hey Ruby!” 

 

“Pyrrha!” Ruby’s voice came out in a high squeak. The younger woman quickly hid something behind her back and her pale features reddened to a dark rose. 

 

“What’s that?” Pyrrha asked slyly, closing the distance between them. 

 

“N-Nothing!” Pyrrha lunged, and promptly fell on her face as Ruby zipped away, using her Semblance. 

 

“Really Pyrrha?”

 

“Oh be quiet you, I’ll make sure Ren dumps you with paperwork.” Ruby snickered from above her, and sped away. Pyrrha collected herself off of the ground, and smiled after the younger Huntress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (One day I'm going to have to move this back into the chapter itself...)
> 
> Isn’t Mistral still y’know, Mistral? Why does Pyrrha like bacon if that was mostly a Western thing and Mistral is China/Greece? Well Greece (Eparchy in my lore) does have and raise pigs. It’s not that bad of a stretch.
> 
> “I figured P-money, look, we’ve been friends going on a decade now, I’d hope by now that Ruby’s a little too into snowflakes to prefer pumpkins.” - Oh I hope this is self-explanatory. (Don’t worry, it’s not all that prominent in the story folks)
> 
> “Yes, well, technically. We’re holding it in Forever Fall.” Why Forever Fall? Because it holds significance. Really, really deep significance. After all, it’s where they would meet the people who they would call family, and where Xanthe got her aura first unlocked. 
> 
> “Well, yes, but… That seemed like such an anomaly, because it was the Grimm that we always focused on. It was the Grimm that we were sent out to fight, not other human beings.” (Well until V3 Pyr, but it’s not like you get to experience that in this reality.) But this statement is true for the majority of V1 and V2, at least for JNPR.
> 
> Yang’s prosthetic arm - She lost it in the attack at Mountain Glenn in this universe.


	8. Sunrise.

Jaune woke up, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He rolled out of bed, and saw that someone had left a steaming cup of coffee next to his bed. He immediately knocked it back, and walked downstairs, watching as other people slowly got up to face the day.

 

“Mornin’ Petunia.” He greeted another tenant, who was making breakfast in the kitchen. He drew out the chair, and picked up the newspaper, flipping to the back, checking the prices for wood and metal. 

 

“Mornin’ Jaune. I’m making eggs today, got any orders in?” She plated some eggs and slid it over to him. 

 

“I got in an order yesterday for Arima. Seems like the only money I’ll be making for a while.”

 

“Jaune, you  _ know  _ that you don’t have to pay rent. Your parents-”

 

“Petunia, I don’t want to… I don’t want to live off of my parents. They deserve a good retirement.” The woman sighed. 

 

“Fine, but you remember my words when you need the money. I still don’t like you working with that man.”

 

“Petuuuniaaaa!” Jaune groaned, and gave her a long suffering look. She shot him a smirk, and turned her back on him. He humphed, and went back to the paper, searching for a pencil to note down some figures. “Do you know if Neptune left out early?”

 

“He did, presumably he went down to the station. He also left you that coffee in your room.” 

 

“I’ll believe that Neptune made that fucking coffee when the Grimm stop being attracted to negative emotions.”

 

“Did I say that he made it, or did I say that he left it there for you.” Jaune grumbled something about semantics, and circled the price for the redwood Pyrrha had asked for. 

 

“Redwood price is going up again.”

 

“Blame the Grimm, apparently Forever Fall is positively swarmed with the things, and it’s taking ages for the Huntsmen to clear.” 

 

“So we only have the stores from last year?”

 

“Well, some young wood-”

 

“You know that won’t do me any good if it’s not aged. I run an antiques and baubles shop, not a shitty 2 bit craft store.” Petunia laughed, and flipped the eggs in the pan. 

 

“Be careful there Jaune, you’re going to sound like your Da soon if you’re not careful.” She chuckled. Jaune groaned, and went back to the paper, noting any other relevant things. 

 

“Alright Petunia, I’m off.” He said, hearing the tell tale groans from Nix getting up, and if Nix was getting up, soon the entire apartment would be awake. 

 

“We’ll see you Jaune!” Petunia called after him, as he grabbed his bag and waved hello to a bleary eyed Nix. He searched around in his bag for the Lien to buy all the supplies, and then pay all of the people he’d need to create it. 

 

He walked calmly out of the apartment complex, even though he felt fear take root in his gut. He felt the stares on his back as he walked, the clothes he wore separating him from the rest of the crowd. He let out a sigh as he finally took the turn that would lead him out of the town.

 

He reached his destination in about 10 minutes, and stepped inside the store. 

 

“Hello there Tera.” He said pleasantly as he walked in. The co-owner, Tera Hervertt turned around from placing some wood samples in the display case. 

 

“Hey Jaune! What brings you in?”

 

“I need some redwood.” She raised her eyebrows. 

 

“Er, do you  _ know  _ the price redwood’ going at?”

 

“I know, I know, but I can pay.” She nodded. 

 

“How much do you need?”

 

“24 square inches of the stuff?” Tera did some quick mental math. 

 

“49,089.84 Lien.” He nodded, and handed her his card. She rang him up, and gave him the stack of wood he asked for. 

 

“Thanks.” He exited, and looked down at his Scroll. Another 5 tasks before he could get to the store. He was going to be in for a long day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grimm affecting Redwood price - The Grimm fuck with the economy in many ways (it’s why I don’t understand why we had to have Torchwick be a big bad thief when we could’ve just had the Grimm prevent miners from doing their jobs by killing them), not in the least wood production. IRL, we get stoppages of wood production because of invasive species fucking up the quality of the wood, or if some dipshit sticks metal stakes into the tree, or if someone decides to girdle the thing instead of doing something more sustainable- Essentially, wood production is fraught with problems in our non-Grimm world, so Remnant, with its weird schizo-tech most definitely would have wood shortages every few months or so. (Grimm don’t work on cycles like our animals, so no definitive timelines, but there should be off and on seasons for production, rules of nature and whatnot) 
> 
> Young wood versus old wood - Obviously, when you’re building a house, you want young wood, not old wood, because its fresher and less likely to be worn through with termites or water damage or other such things. It’s why construction projects do not like to use unused material from other construction projects, because the wood’s older. 
> 
> At the same time, if you’re running say: An imitations store, like Jaune is, old wood is fantastic, because you can get it through the aging process a lot easier, because it already is kind of there already, and you don’t have to do as much work in the oxidation process (you can’t use ethylene for wood unlike fruit because wood doesn’t exactly ripen, plus ethylene is kind of a positive feedback loops, and you NEVER want those getting out of control) and it’s a lot more rigid, so you already know what you can use it for.

**Author's Note:**

> Now, let’s get into some analysis!  
> Pyrrha doing her shopping last minute - I initially did this because, well, /how else am I going to get this kicked off?/ But I repurposed it here, because of how I set up the lore, in that Pyrrha comes from Fantasy!Not Greece, a country with a mostly Mediterranean climate, which would mean that she would hate going outside in the cold, and would therefore try and limit going out, hence the late shopping. 
> 
> Why did I name this Arima? - It’s Basque for soul, at least according to Google Translate, and well, just take a look at RWBY, practically /everything/ relies on Aura, (which is some broken shit, but whatever) and what doesn’t rely on Aura relies on Dust, (which is even more broken, and therefore more hilarious, at least economically) ergo why not have a religion centered around something that straight up protects them from literally evil borne from nothing? (I also wanted some kinda theological explanation for Aura if RWBY was gonna just skip over that and pretend religion doesn’t exist...)
> 
> WTF is Allemand’s geography? - Well it’s half based off of a regular city square from my neighborhood, and Paris, because Vale is Fantasy! Not France/Russia in my lore. (That just makes it Canada though… ah well) So hence a random alleyway in the city square that leads off to an entire new section of the town, which is distressingly common where I live.
> 
> Why Greensleeves as the song Pyrrha hears? Why not Jingle Bells or something Christmassy? - I don’t like using stuff from real world religions in fantasy religions, I’ll take inspiration, hence the absolutely massive canon of Saints for Jaune’s religion, and why I kept the four maidens as gods, and so on so forth, but I don’t like taking religious iconography and just slapping it onto something else. It’s bound to crop up occasionally, because Jaune is just male Jeanne D’arc, and well, you know. 
> 
> Why does Pyrrha get confused at the characters for “All Saint’s Day?” Greek, uses Latinate characters! And doesn’t Remnant have a unified language anyway? - 1. Yes, Greek does use Latin characters. But you know what doesn’t? Russian. So Jaune, and most of Outer Vale, use cyrillic characters, but can speak French/Valean. 2. Yes, in canon Remnant has a unified language and writing system, or at least I’m fairly certain they do, otherwise what the fuck is Ozpin doing, having translators peppered all around his office at all times whenever he wants to conduct his Ozluminati shit? 
> 
> The statues, and /holy shit Pyrrha calm your trigger finger!/ - I picked the statues out as a gift to call back to the original fic, this one isn’t that deep. As for Pyrrha’s shitty trigger discipline, I chalk it up to being extremely tense after sneaking around Vale for like 2 hours at night. It doesn’t excuse the shitty trigger discipline, just explain it.
> 
> Why does Jaune sell religious iconography and ask for customization if he’s just then going to turn around and blather on about defamation? - Because by customization, he’s talking about the material, as in do you want this in ceramic, wood, marble? Not, do you want to commit a crime with me today by defacing this piece of religious art?  
> Jaune Luna Arc? Latin? Palisade? Calculating Lien? - Because Jaune Miles Luna Arc sounds horrendous, fight me on that. /Gloria enim hominis/ is a throwaway reference to Nier Automata, (Glory to Humanity) because I love that game. Palisade is the continent on Remnant that’s all holed up in the corner. I don’t know if that’s where Salem is (I suspect it though) but for now, it’s No Man’s Land. So I did some calculations, and I had always wanted Lien to be depreciating against the US Dollar, (because look at Remnant) but not to the extent of say, 1 Yen is .01 of a US Dollar. So I achieved this equation $1 USD = 1.37 Lien (Oh and the symbol for Lien is:⨎)
> 
> I'll see you guys next time!


End file.
